AirAsia X says taking carrier private is option on valuation

The CEO of AirAsia X said taking the company private is an option, after shares of the long-haul budget carrier in Tony Fernandes’s AirAsia group plunged 64% in the past year to become the worst-performing airline in Asia.<br/>Sister company AirAsia also is examining that option, Benyamin Ismail said Wednesday. AirAsia has “no knowledge of privatisation,” and it hasn’t received any offers to take the company private, it said. “That’s something that I’ll let shareholders comment, both of us, as an option, both companies are looking at, AirAsia, us,” said Benyamin, who was in India to announce the resumption of AirAsia X flights to New Delhi. “As a shareholder, the valuation of the company is very cheap at the moment, it’s very good to take it private.” However, he added, there currently are no plans to take the companies private and it could be a challenge to find investors willing to do so. AirAsia X and AirAsia became Asia’s worst-performing airline stocks in the past year after a fatal crash by an Indonesian affiliate, mounting competition and a weaker ringgit damped investor demand. The decline was exacerbated by a GMT Research report last June questioning AirAsia’s accounting.<br/>